Holy Beautiful devotional book

Jamie is honored to be a contributor to the Holy Beautiful ministry for women. You can learn more about them at www.holybeautifullife.comeYou can purchase their first devotional book on Amazon. (click the image)

Get Jamie's book!

Available to purchase at these locations:

take a look inside!

​This isn’t the book I dreamed about writing when I was young. In fact, when I first sat down to begin writing my experience with anxiety and depression; I didn’t have a fixed goal in mind. I was simply aware that the words needed to fill a page. My story needed to be shared, even if it was just with a small group of friends. I felt drawn to share what I have gone through up to this point because I wish I could have heard these words from someone during my darkest days. I needed to hear that I wasn’t alone.It can be difficult when writing a book like this, because there already are so many good resources out there on mental health. I can’t tell you how many books I have seen advertised just this year that promise to help us break out of our fears and live a victorious life. Just so you know, I’m not reinventing the wheel. This is not a self-help book, and it’s not my autobiography. This is me sharing my story and hoping that you are inspired and challenged by the lessons God has taught me. I’ve been tempted to shrink back from being vulnerable because I don’t have all the answers. This short summary of my experience took over two years to write down. Part of the reason for that is because I was still very much in process (I believe I will always be “in process”). Healing from emotional pain does not happen overnight. In my experience, I’ve come across no one who found perfection in their lifetime. There are two things that I want to tell you before you read this book. The first is that mental health crises’ are very real experiences. Let me assure you from the onset that people are typically not being “dramatic” when they tell you they deal with panic disorder, anxiety or depression. I used to think that these kinds of issues weren’t that big of a deal. “People just need to get a grip,” I would think to myself. “It can’t be that bad.” How very wrong I was. If someone in your life is going through an emotional hurdle, the best thing you can do for them in the beginning is to believe them. Assure them that they aren’t crazy. Help them on the path to their healing. And, if that person who needs healing is you, I want to assure you that you are not alone in the struggle. My hope for you is that you will stop running away from the difficult journey, and will lean into it instead. You need a life more abundant. You weren’t made for half-cup living.

Secondly, I want you to understand that perfection is not the goal. Healing doesn’t mean that you won’t feel scared or frustrated or worried. It won’t mean that you will always walk through each day with a cool, calm attitude. Life has mountains and valleys, and you will continue to experience those. The majority of people I talk to aren’t interested in the kind of self-help that comes off as fake and insincere. Instagram worthy perfection is not where most of us live. We feel deep hurts and cry real tears. (Oh, and our sink has dirty dishes in it every single day).The goal in my writing will never be to paint a picture of wholeness on earth, because it doesn’t exist. We were created for eternity, and we aren’t there yet. However, we can reach a place of meaning where heaven comes down to meet us in our weaknesses. A place of freedom and hope in which we live the life we were created to. I want that for you. I want you to be free.I lived for ten years with physical and mental chains around my body. I felt an overwhelming urgency to run, and yet my feet were enveloped in quicksand. I wasn’t sure I would ever feel “normal” again.Do we really know what normal means?

Normal is defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary as “not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle.” Another description is “conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern.” One definition even goes so far as to say, “free from mental illness: mentally sound.”

My question in response to this information is this, “If so many people struggle with fear, anxiety, and depression, what does that say about our concept of normalcy?”

Why is it that so many of us can’t seem to break free to live what we envision as a “normal” life?

I believe that one of the reasons it took me so long to find healing is because of the stigma attached to mental health concerns. I didn’t want a label. I didn’t want sympathy. I didn’t want to be different. So, instead, I lived my anxiety out as secretly as I could. My body suffered. My family suffered. And, my mind suffered to such a great extent, that I became physically sick as a result.

Every human will be faced with periods of pain, moments of fear and seasons of emotional ups and downs. That is the normal part of life. What isn’t normal however, is what I experienced for a ten year period of my life. I lived a life with a preoccupation with worry, fear, and distress. I was terrified on a daily basis. I was bound with chains that were not easily broken.

This is my story of deliverance.

It is my prayer that you find freedom from your chains of fear and anxiety, and that this book could be instrumental in helping you or someone you love further along that path.